The Survivors
Somewhere at Novus,
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
The projectile exploded loudly amidst the Bellato force. Yet, it didn't hinder their movements. They had confronted the larger Accretian force at the area; however they didn't expect that the Corites would turn their backs upon them. Instead, they simply held their ground until both foes exhausted and they could claim the Chip. Angered by the treachery, the Bellatos sent the MAUs (Massive Armored Unit) to pummel their estranged ally into submission. The Goliaths sent heavy barrage toward the Cora's position, while the opponent countered the attack with their Animas. The Accretia saw this as an opportunity to divide those forces, making it into triple threat.
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The Accretia deployed their Launcher-equipped Rangers to mow the foes, while the Warriors dealt with the frontline. The Dementors waited with their traps behind the frontline. The logic decided that the Cora was the weakest force; therefore they must be destroyed immediately before summoning their reinforcements.
UNIT CONSCIOUSNESS SAMPLE:
How many foes killed by him was insignificant for Zero0X. With berserk mode, the cyborg cared little for them. Anything with flesh must be exterminated.
Die, Bellato! Die, Corites! Those who defied Emperor Deuz must die! Don't let the flesh breathe! DIE! DIE!!
The dark-armored Accretia brandished a one-hand sword and cut down the incoming opponents. Under the heavy attacks of Bellato and Accretia, the Corites' line was falling rapidly. It was only a matter of time, before they have to brace with the crushing defeat. Despite the cybernetic body, the warrior felt strange sensation inside its organic brain…it feels exhilarating. A Cora warrior with a huge axe foolishly confronted him, but Zero cut him into two with his sword. Upon the mangled body, the cyborg took fascination with the death.
This is for Emperor Deuz! Deus Ex Machina!
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In other side, the Bellato advanced rapidly. While the soldiers fought bravely on the frontline, the officers waited at the safe place. Maya watched the situation through her binoculars. She turned to the Bellato sergeant,
"Sergeant, keep the squad and continue to push the Corites!" The sergeant asked,
"Ma'am, it seems the Accretia had the same mind," The female Bellato sniffed,
"Therefore, it is imperative for us to occupy the target, before those scrap metals! Crush them immediately. Use MAUs if necessary!" The sergeant didn't question further as he saluted his officer,
"Yes, Ma'am!" As the others relayed the command, Maya withdrew to the command vessel, which ready to take off.
The sentiment wasn't shared equally by her subordinates below. Kayn frowned when he saw the command vessel took off,
"Well, some people don't want their hands dirty!" Ran replied,
"That's why they have us here, Kayn!" The brown-haired Bellato turned to his friends,
"Don't say you're doing it gladly, Ran…"
"Everything for my Maya…" At the same time, he shot an Accretia warrior with the composite bow. When the hulking cyborg fell, Kayn and his fellow warriors swarmed the opponent and made the work short through their pulse swords. He glanced grimly toward the Corites,
"I feel sorry to kill them. The Cora women are very fair and beautiful…" The ranger grinned, as he fixed his eyeshades,
"Yes, I think they will appreciate your concern by taking your heart out!" Ran jumped from the trench and said,
"But this is war! The Corites enjoys it very much, beside they're a bunch of crazed fanatics…let's go, Kayn! Let's hunt the Cora and the Accretia!"
"I will be the one!" Those youths tread the battlefields, coming closer to the enemy's line.
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The Corites were reduced into handful of Spiritualists, Rangers and Warriors, but they refused to give up the place. Commander Ladion barked orders,
"All right, people! Our situation is grim," he explained, "But we won't falter! By DECEM's grace, we shall stand our ground! For those who are not ready for this, I had assigned our Dark Priests to cast Return Gate spell, so you will return to the headquarters! Tell our bravery for our people! This shall inspire them to continue our struggle! For DECEM!"
The other shouted, "For DECEM!" Then the Dark Priests begun to cast their spell, creating a portal where the injured Corites return to their base. The rest of Spiritualists were creating the forcefield, holding the numerous barrages from the enemy. Ladion watched his men carefully and glanced to the young girl in front of him. Displeased, he said to her,
"My Lady shouldn't be here! This is too dangerous…" Clytemnestra replied,
"My place is here, Commander! I want to fight for our people!"
Ladion nodded, "I appreciate milady's concern, but we can't allow you to be harmed…Moreover, what the enemy will think when they found a member of House Ladenus is here! No, milady! I will send you back to the base; this is not your time yet!"
"But I…" Before the spiritualist continued, two Knights had flanked her. Ladion said,
"Escort milady to the portal…" he added to her, "…We was honored to battle along with you, milady. Only this isn't the right time…"
"No, commander! The honor is mine…" As they walked to the portal, something happened and made them stopped in their track.
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Above the sky, a huge roar came. The huge, fiery object came into everyone's view. The warring parties stopped for a moment. To everyone's terror, the meteorite rolled toward their battlefield. The Bellato and the Corites flee in terror, while the Accretia slowly responded to the impending danger. As the blazing meteorite went closer, Ran could see that it knocked Maya's command vessel out. The flame burst from the vessel's engine and it went down at the northwest.
Amidst the confusion, the portal was abruptly closed. The Corites was stranded! Realizing their situation, Ladion shouted order,
"Protect milady!" Instantly, the Knights,Champion and Guardians surrounded Clytemnestra, almost suffocating her. She saw the meteorite hit the ground and exploded…
Zero saw the meteorite too, and the self-preservation program instantly kicked. However, the cyborg was split-second late as the furious conflagration engulfed everyone around the site. The MAUs weren't even spared from its wrath…
For a moment, the life ceased to exist and the planet groaned heavily…
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After the firestorm subsidized, Ran rose slowly from the dust. He shocked to found out the huge crater in place of the battlefield. He spotted the charred MAUs nearby; no doubt its Drivers were died in the freak explosion. The ranger looked for his friend, but couldn't find it. He took his composite bow, surveying the ground zero. Everything around was leveled down, nothing remained alive. It dawned inside his mind that he might be the only survivor from his force. The Accretian force was obliterated completely. For the Corites…perhaps they were able to Recall themselves out from the danger. Suddenly, he remembered something,
How about Maya? Did she survive this disaster as well? Spurred by that, Ran paced faster…until he heard a noise nearby. Instinctively, he pulled his bow and pointed it to the source. The dead Corites sprawled inside a trench. The ranger went cautiously. Suddenly a long-haired girl with light armor and a staff burst out from the corpses like a scepter. The Bellato was startled with sudden appearance, that he almost shot her…
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Clytemnestra almost freaked out of her wits, when he saw a young Bellato pointing the bow to her. She lifted her staff in defensive stance, ready to cast spell. Then the youth barked,
"Who are you? How come you're still alive?" Felt offended, the Spiritualist hissed,
"Watch your tongue, infidel! None speak to me with insolent attitude…I shall wipe you like stain," Ran laughed, to her irritation,
"Puh-leze! Ha, perhaps you should check your situation first!" The Cora turned around and saw her comrades were dead. Shocked, she screamed,
"You! What have you done to my companions?" The young ranger lashed back,
"Ho, take it easy! I have the right to ask the same here! It seems your sorcery was turned against you!" Cly found that notion was ridiculously hilarious; she replied,
"Nonsense, it must be your failed technology! Are you ready to be destroyed, infidel?" Ran lifted his composite bow level to her, but he didn't see necessity to kill,
"Look, lady!" he said, "My arrow will pierce your throat easily before you have a chance to cast any spell to me! But then why should we kill each other here? Is it better to find the way to return to our respective place?" The Cora answered with prideful tone,
"My life is belonging to DECEM. I will throw it for him gladly!" The Bellato mocked,
"Yes, do it and I am sure your god will receive you! Do you ever think about your loved ones, ha? Do you care of them? I want to return home safely, and I think so are you!" The Spiritualist stunned to hear such suggestion. She won't mind to die, but the youth had a point. She want to meet her sister again, therefore she must live. Still not lowering her staff, she said,
"I have to admit that infidel like you have a point. Then, how do I know you can be trusted?" Ran let a small grin,
"No, life is like a gamble! You have to take a chance…I already take a chance to trust you, now you must do the same! Can you?" Cly was hesitated, but she wouldn't achieve anything alone. The Bellato might be her last hope to return home.
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As she thinks, Ran grew nervously. He didn't expect to see a survivor, but now there she is. The smart thing to do would be to shot her down and get moving. Or at least herd her out of the way using his arrow and head for the rendezvous with- he hoped-Maya.
But why start doing the smart thing now?
He does something unexpected; lowering his composite bow. "Come with me. Together, we'll have a chance to survive…" The Cora saw a chance to use her Dark Force, but eventually against it. It was dishonorable to attack the unarmed enemy, though they are the infidels. She does the same thing.
"I agree, but I am watching you! We'd cease our fight until we found help!"
"Agree!" The ranger offered his hand to her, "My name is Ran from the 3rd Federal Bellato Division. You are?" The Cora answered haughtily without shaking hand,
"I am Clytemnestra from the Holy Alliance. Let's go now!" She gave him a cold shoulder. Ran sighed,
"Typical, Kayn might like her!"
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Together, the Bellato and the Cora roamed the blasted battlefields. They had to keep eyes from the scattering traps. The death and desolation greeted them. Despite the light armors, they failed to cover Cly's body curves. The ranger couldn't stop to staring her, so obivious to the Cora woman who shouted immediately,
"Pervert! Why don't you ogle something else than my own body? I know this is a mistake for going with a dirty-minded infidel like you!!" Annoyed, Ranskye shot back,
"Then why do you agree with me? Excuuse me, though you're the last female on Novus I won't go with you! You think you're beautiful ha?" Cly spat her words venomously,
"Your women don't satisfy you? Is that so? Just because she couldn't serve you better, you ogle me?" The mocking actually reddened the ranger's ears; he felt the Cora was insulting Maya.
"Don't insult Maya! You don't know what kind of lady she is?" Cly laughed,
"Ha, the midget like you knows how to treat a lady?" Ran's emotion almost got better of him; he almost pointed his arrow to her. Yet a crank came from nowhere. The youth asked,
"Shh, do you hear that?" The spiritualist nodded,
"Yes…what is that?" Ran shook his head,
"I don't know…however, "he turned to his left side, where the pile of melted and twisted metals lay, "…it seem coming from here," Both of them turned to the left, readying themselves for the worst. Suddenly something burst out from the pile, and Ran saw that was a dark-armored Accretia with the whitish lower portion. The Accretia held a beam sword and a Shadow Protector. Without time to think, he prepared his composite bow and ready to shot. In other hand, Clytemnestra was unnerved with the cyborg's sudden appearance. She tried to cast a spell, but unable to say it due to fear.
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UNIT CONSCIOUSNESS SAMPLE:
Zero's brain managed to record the last event, but somehow the details were vague. The explosion affected his database severely and some of his programs were corrupted. The immediate response was to come out…and he met with those fleshy creatures; the midget and the pointed ears. His instant actions was
Destroy…them…destroy…them…At that time, the diagnostic program reported
WARNING!
THE PRIMARY DATABASE IS CORRUPTED
THE SECONDARY DATABASE IS CORRUPTED
UNABLE TO UPLOAD THE COMBAT PROCEDURE
UNABLE TO DESIGNATE THE TARGETS
HP: 23%; FP:123%;SP:345%
THE SHUTDOWN INITIATED
His vision began to fail him; the black and white turned into static. He tried to move his weapon, but his right arm somehow refuses to move. In this state, he would be defenseless…he won't let the enemy to capture him. He began to activate the self-destruct program mentally but then the report came…
WARNING!
UNABLE TO ACCESS THE SELF-DESTRUCT PROGRAM
UNABLE TO ACCESS THE SELF-DESTRUCT PROGRAM
In the first time of his production, he felt something different…never happen before; he felt helplessness. Then all were shut down!
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Then the Accretia crashed down to the ground, too much for Ran and Cly's shock. At first they were silent. After few minutes, the cyborg was unmoving. This prompted the Bellato ranger to come closer. The Cora shouted,
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"To make sure that it is dead…" Ranskye checked the cyborg's internal battery at its back and found out that it still active. He also checked its head case and somehow the brain inside wasn't liquefied. It wasn't like the Empire's usual procedure, whenever lost in a battle. He called,
"This one still active…" Cly came forward, saying,
"Then let me finish this abomination once and for all!!" To her shock, the Bellato stopped her
He said firmly, "No, let this one alive…" The Spiritualist shouted exasperatedly,
"What for? This…thing and its kinds will surely follow us…we…I…can't let this one!"
"This one is different…" Then the Cora pointed her staff to him and the cyborg,
"Back off, or I'm forced to destroy you with that tin-can!"
"I won't let you destroy this!" The better half of Cly said to blast both of them to the kingdom come, but something restrained her. She asked again
"What are you going to do with the abomination?" His answer startled her,
"I want to learn about the Accretia more!!" Cly laughed,
"Learn? What do you possibly learn from that brutish creature? You simply deluded yourself!!" Ranskye protested,
"Oh, yeah! How about your own hero, Giz Kadasha? Does she destroy Rotan 3rd completely?"
"That's different! Beside, the Empire play tricks by rebuilt the merciless machine back…"
"Still…O.K, let's make a deal here! Let me fix its program and see…if in three weeks these still try to kill us you have permission to destroy it!" Now the Cora was doubtful, but the ranger followed,
"Come on! We might need this for our way out…what do you think?" Cly found out the proposition was amusing; she wanted to know if the midget can tame the abomination. Finally she lowered her staff and said,
"Fine, I'll give you three weeks to prove yourself! To be sure, just disarm his weapons!" Ranskye nodded gladly,
"Gladly!" When turned away, she added,
"Let's hope someone finds us first before the abomination's kinds…"
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Author's Note: Hi, it's me again! After on hiatus, I decide to continue this fanfic again. Now I play RF Online at Indonesia. After the mysterious meteorite destroyed the others, these survivors must find the way to go back to their respective places. Will they succeed despite the prejudice and misgivings amongst themselves? Their comrades didn't forget them. Find the continuation in "The Retrieval Mission".